According to Jack Kirby is a historical book written by Michael Hill examining the claims of Jack Kirby to the creation of several seminal Marvel Comics characters of the 1960s. In the wake of the immense popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), one key question emerges – who created the icons that underpin the MCU’s success viz. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and the Avengers. What about the other characters that paved the way for the MCU e.g. the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man? Would it surprise you to discover that all these characters were created by one man? And not the one you might think – JACK KIRBY.
Author Michael Hill poses a challenge to comics historians – “If Jack Kirby’s version of events turned out to be the truth, how would that change what’s accepted as comics history?” Which begs the question – what did Kirby say about the creation of all these Marvel characters? That is the entire purpose of According to Jack Kirby – to demonstrate that Kirby has always been consistent in claiming that these Marvel characters were created by him, and him alone.
Waitaminute! Doesn’t this narrative fly in the face of accepted Marvel Comics history – what about Stan Lee? Isn’t Lee the creator of all those popular Marvel characters – we have seen his cameos in all those Marvel films, MCU or otherwise? How can According to Jack Kirby now claim that in fact, Stan Lee created none of these characters?
Well, if you are willing to have an open mind, Michael Hill, with According to Jack Kirby, has presented to the world, all the evidence sufficient for a true believer to be convinced about this fact – Jack Kirby created the Marvel Universe. Nuff said!
According to Jack Kirby is available from Lulu.com.
A big thank you to Stephen Bissette for the heads up!
… still there’s more …